It’s looking a little dull around here these days, so I thought it was about time for a picture post! Here are a couple things that have been going on in my studio recently… Do you use the penny practice game? I have a jar of pennies sitting on my desk and my students frequently […]
Teaching
13 Ideas for Parents to Prepare their Young Children for Piano Lessons
Occasionally I will get e-mails from parents with young children (3-5), inquiring as to what sorts of activities they can do with their child to help prepare them for piano lessons. Here’s a list of 13 basic ideas (pulled from an e-mail I sent) that even a non-musical parent can incorporate into their day to […]
Monday Mailbag – Not Using Theory Books
[Note: Sorry for the delay this week!] You mentioned in your most recent Monday Mailbag post that you rarely use theory books with your students. Do you use other books instead? Or just do it all at the piano? Almost all of our theory work is done directly at the piano and is based on […]
New in the Music Blog World!
In the past week I’ve come across several new music blogs, so I thought I would pass the word on to everyone else, too! ComposeCreate.com – Some of you are probably familiar with Wendy’s Piano Studio website and the great resources she offers. I was thrilled to recently discover that she has started a blog […]
Monday Mailbag – Teaching Chord Patterns
How do other teachers go about teaching the I – V7 chord pattern? I use a scale book primarily. I do explain it to them and some students get it; others have no clue and cannot convert the pattern to any other key! When I introduce the I – V7 chord progression, it’s after the […]
Echoes From the Square
Recently, I received an e-mail from Elizabeth Wellburn, author of the colorful and captivating book Echoes From the Square by Elizabeth Wellburn. It is the beautiful story of cellist Vedran Smailovic, retold in this heartwarming children’s book. The video below is a recording of Ms. Wellburn reading the story, accompanied by images from the book […]
